Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila denies group stepped over dying porter throughout world file K2 climb

A famend Norwegian mountaineer has denied claims her group stepped over a dying helper whereas climbing K2 – one of many tallest peaks on the planet – as a part of a world file bid.

Kristin Harila, 37, says she is the sufferer of “misinformation” and has had “hatred” aimed toward her – together with loss of life threats.

Last month, she grew to become the quickest climber to scale all of the world’s 14 highest mountains – finishing the achievement in simply 92 days.

Her ultimate climb was of K2 on 27 July, after which she arrived with fellow record-breaker, Nepali mountaineer Tenjen (Lama) Sherpa, in Kathmandu to a hero’s welcome.

But through the K2 climb, an area helper who was a part of a group forward of them, slipped a couple of metres from a slim ledge, grew to become tangled in ropes and later died on the mountain.

Video has emerged displaying climbers showing to step over the excessive porter, named as 27-year-old father-of-three Muhammad Hassan, from Pakistan.

Two males, who had been climbing K2 on the identical day, have since criticised the group, and claimed Mr Hassan was handled like a “second-class human being” by different climbers.

However, Ms Harila instructed Sky News her group “tried for hours to save” Mr Hassan – and that one member even took off his oxygen masks and gave it to him as a result of he didn’t have one in all his personal.

“We were just behind him when he fell,” she stated.

“We saw him hanging upside down – very early on we decided we needed to try and turn him around.

“Lama tried to turn him around, but he wasn’t able to because this is a very narrow and very steep place, and it is not safe to stay here.”

Ms Harila stated it took round an hour to carry Mr Hassan again on to the path, at what she described as a “dangerous bottleneck”, with ice and snow hanging over it.

She stated the group additionally determined to separate, along with her and Lama persevering with to the highest of the mountain, after her ahead fixing group bumped into their very own difficulties.

“The main reason that we got this message on the radio that the fixing team were having problems,” she stated.

“So we had to make a decision to split up. And in this place, it is a very, very narrow trail, and it is impossible to have 10 people help around because there’s only room for one behind and one in front.

“We determined to separate up, however we had been positive he was nonetheless to get assist.”

Asked about the location of the incident, she said: “This might be essentially the most harmful a part of K2 and K2 might be essentially the most harmful mountain of all the massive mountains.

“We know it is very risky to stay there – but we had to try to save him.”

She stated her cameraman, Gabrielle, remained with Mr Hassan, and gave him heat water and oxygen by giving him his personal masks.

Ms Harila beforehand hit again at criticism of her determination to proceed to the summit in a submit on Instagram.

“I am angry at how many people have been blaming others for this tragic accident,” she wrote.

“This was no one’s fault, you cannot comment when you do not understand the situation, and sending death threats is never okay.”

After reaching the highest, Ms Harila filmed an “emotional” video celebrating their record-breaking climb.

She stated she solely found Mr Hassan had died as she climbed down the mountain, and that she and her group had been unable to get well his physique as a result of it was “impossible to safely carry him down”.

“It is truly tragic what happened, and I feel very strongly for the family. If anything, I hope we can learn something from this tragedy,” she added.

German cameraman Philip Flaemig was on K2 on the time and recorded drone footage – however determined to not proceed up the mountain because the circumstances had been too harmful.

He stated when he reviewed the video footage again at base camp, he noticed dozens of individuals strolling over Mr Hassan.

“He was still alive. In the next picture, there was just one person rubbing him, and I said: ‘Why? Why haven’t they brought him down?'”

“From my expertise of mountaineering – and I have been doing this 35 years – nobody can tell me that this man couldn’t have been helped.

“There are examples more and more about people at 8,000m who help people down. I know where he was found. I know what is the possibility to bring him down. It’s only snow slopes.

“There’s no affordable rationalization for this type of behaviour.”

Austrian mountaineer Wilhelm Steindl, who was also on the mountain that day, but turned back due to the conditions, told Austria’s Standard newspaper: “lt can be unthinkable within the Alps.

“He was treated like a second-class human being. If he had been a Westerner, he would have been rescued immediately.

“No one felt accountable for him. What occurred there’s a shame. A dwelling human was left mendacity in order that information could possibly be set.”

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Mr Steindl has since visited Mr Hassan’s household and has arrange a GoFundMe web page hoping to boost as much as €100,000 (£86,500) to help them.

“He was 27 years old and had a family with three young children,” he stated.

“When we found out about the family, we personally went to the mountain village to support the family.

“The mother is desperate because she has no financial means. In these remote villages, women are not educated and cannot earn money in the strictly Muslim country.”

K2 is extensively thought to be the one of many hardest peaks in mountaineering – with 2018 figures displaying that over a fifth of tried ascents finish in loss of life.

Experts say K2 – the world’s second-tallest mountain above sea degree – is much more harmful than Everest – the tallest – as a result of much less of the mountain flattens off, and it’s vulnerable to avalanches and rock falls.